The most dominating individual sports performances of 2020

By now we've seen it enough that it has actually become a running joke; the Chiefs spot a team a lead, then roar back with one of their patented offensive explosions. Kansas City was already feared in last year's AFC Divisional Playoffs, but when Houston jumped out to a 24-0 lead in the January 12th clash, there was at least some thought that the Texans would finish the job. How quaint. Mahomes threw four touchdown passes in a 28-point second quarter to give the Chiefs the lead, then iced the game with a fifth touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter. Final line? 321 yards, five touchdowns, no interceptions. Pretty good, that guy.

The 2019 NFC Championship Game was supposed to be a battle between Aaron Rodgers and the 49ers' defense. Instead, it turned into a party for Mostert. The San Francisco running back scored the Niners' first four touchdowns of the game, staking them to a 27-0 halftime lead, and a 34-7 lead in the mid-third quarter. In all, Mostert finished with 220 yards on 29 carries (7.6 yards per carry) to help San Francisco cruise to the Super Bowl.

Portland's all-world point guard had not one, not two, but three 60-point games in the regular and postseason combined, but his magnum opus came on August 11th, when he had a 61-point outburst against the Dallas Mavericks in the bubble. Lillard went 9-of-17 from behind the arc, 8-of-15 from two-point range, and 18-of-18 at the foul line to will the Trail Blazers to a 134-131 win over Dallas. Portland was an also-ran going into the bubble, but Lillard's repeated outbursts 

Hockey is a funny game, and goalie is a funny position. Its very nature means that some of the best all-time performances can end in defeat. And so goes the story of Korpisalo, who on August 11th fought valiantly against the Tampa Bay Lightning in a three-overtime clash. Korpisalo's Blue Jackets were unable to hold a 2-1 lead entering the third period in Game 1 of their first-round series, and so the game went to overtime. Then another overtime. Then another. And another, and still another. Finally, in the fifth overtime, Tampa Bay's Brayden Point got the winning goal. Korpisalo's final line defies belief; 85 saves on 88 shots. (Honorable mention to the winning goalie, Tampa Bay's Andrei Vasilevskiy, who stopped a mere 61 of 63 shots.)

The NHL was a model, along with the NBA, for how to conduct games in a bubble setting. That led to an odd atmosphere, to be sure, but it also yielded some stellar individual performances. No skater delivered a better game than Dallas' Gurianov. He turned in a four-goal, one-assist performance on August 20th against the Calgary Flames. Gurianov's game was superb and historic; he was the first rookie since 1988 to score four goals in a playoff game, and the Stars' 7-3 win clinched their first-round series. 

Doncic might be the headline name among the league's post-LeBron wave of superstars, and he made his mark in Game 4 of the Mavericks' first-round series with the Clippers. With Dallas trailing 2-1 in the series and 133-132 in the game, Doncic capped off a 43-point, 17-rebound, 13-assist triple-double with a game-winning step-back three-pointer to tie the series at two games apiece. Only two other players in league history - Charles Barkley and Oscar Robertson - have ever posted a 40-point, 15-rebound, 10-assist game in the playoffs. 

The Pirates were the worst team in baseball this year, and on August 25th, Giolito completely dominated them, carrying the White Sox to a 4-0 win. Giolito struck out 13 and walked just one batter on his way to a no-hitter, one that earned him a "game score" of 99. How good is that? Dating back to 1901, Baseball Reference shows only 16 nine-inning games with a higher score. Simply put, Giolito's no-no was one of the 20 most dominant pitching performances in Major League history. 

There were so many great individual performances in the NBA bubble that it became hard to whittle down the list to the best of the best. That said, context matters, and so does efficiency, for our purposes. Murray's 50-point outburst in Game 6 of the Nuggets' first-round series against Utah not only forced a Game 7, but it was astonishingly clinical. Murray became just the second player in league history to score 50 points on at least 70 percent shooting from the field in a playoff game. He also became just the third player to tally 50 points in an elimination game, joining Wilt Chamberlain and Sleepy Floyd. Oh, and the Nuggets won the series.

Dickerson's first few years in the majors saw him perform like a solid, but unspectacular, part-time contributor. He had his best-ever season in 2020, clubbing 10 home runs and posting a .947 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) for the Giants. His best game? That's easy to pick; Dickerson exploded on September 1st against Colorado, ripping three home runs and two doubles, and knocking in six runs. Dickerson's OPS jumped from .694 to .880 in one game, and his 16 total bases were the most by any player in the majors all season.

Joonas Korpisalo's 85-save game was a feat of endurance and focus, and I suspect most observers would call it the most impressive goaltending performance in modern history. That said, Demko's 48-save shutout to keep Vancouver alive against Las Vegas in Game 6 of their second-round series was the ultimate gut-check performance. The Canucks won that September 3rd clash, 4-0, and though they were unable to finish the job in Game 7, Demko's superlative performance in a game Vegas dominated territorially was extremely impressive.

Having rallied from a 3-1 deficit against the Clippers, a team thought by many to be the NBA title favorite, the Nuggets had to try and stare down Kawhi Leonard and Paul George to win Game 7. No worry - they had Jokic on their side. The Serbian 7-footer dominated the game in every facet, turning in a virtuoso triple-double of 16 points, 22 rebounds, and 13 assists as Denver demoralized the Clippers and pulled away late for a shocking 104-89 victory. 

DeChambeau is the most polarizing man in golf, with fellow competitors equal parts awed and puzzled by his over-the-top pursuit of distance, and his decision to forgo the sport's norms by not worrying much about being in the rough. Many thought that this year's U.S. Open, at the brutally tough Winged Foot, would humble DeChambeau. They were wrong. DeChambeau was the only player under par on a vicious final day, and for the tournament overall, shooting a three-under 67 to finish six-under for the tournament dusting the second-place finisher, Matthew Wolff, by six shots.

We've seen such consistent, preposterous brilliance from James over the years that it's easy to become numb to what he does game-in, game-out. That said, when it came time to bury the Nuggets, who just weren't ready to contend on Los Angeles' level, James left no doubt. The line was his usual absurd-made-regular triple-double; 38 points, 16 rebounds, 10 assists. He had 16 points in the fourth quarter, including nine straight at one point, to put Denver away. 

The Heat were in dire straits; down 2-0 to the heavily-favored Lakers in the NBA Finals, missing Goran Dragic and Bam Adebayo, and generally being written off as dead in the series. Butler's Herculean effort in Game 3 made things competitive and was as gutsy and will-driven as any performance this year. The Miami swingman put up a triple-double, with 40 points, 13 assists, and 10 rebounds, becoming just the third player, along with LeBron James and Jerry West, to post a 40-point triple-double in the Finals. 

Claypool was the 11th receiver taken in the 2020 NFL Draft, but few that were picked ahead of him have made as much of an impact, and none had a bigger game than the one Claypool turned in against the Eagles on October 11th. Claypool became the first Steelers rookie with four touchdowns in a game, and the first rookie in NFL history with three receiving touchdowns and a rushing touchdown in a game. Overall, he put up seven catches for 110 yards and three scores to go with his rushing touchdown. The Steelers needed just about all of it, beating Philadelphia 38-29.

Derrick Henry picked up right where he left off in 2019, dominating defenses physically on the way to another huge season. His numbers ended up better across the board in 2020, and his most dominant performance came against a helpless Texans defense on October 18th. Henry rumbled for 212 yards on just 22 carries, and also caught two passes for 52 yards. It wasn't even his highest rushing total for the year, but it was his most visually dominant effort, and one the Titans needed every bit of in a 42-36 win.

How good was Lockett in Seattle's October 25th loss to the Cardinals? Despite the fact that the Seahawks fell, 37-34, Lockett managed 15 catches, 200 yards, and three touchdowns. How many times has a player caught at least 15 passes for at least 200 yards and 3 touchdowns? Precisely two other times in league history; once by Steve Largent in 1987, and the other by Jimmy Smith in 2000. That's some exclusive company for Lockett, though getting the win would have been nice, too. 

Smith sure looks like the best receiver in college football and the best pro prospect in the sport, and he drove that point home against Mississippi State on Halloween night. Smith caught four touchdowns, and overall had 11 catches for 203 yards. It might not have even been his best game; he also torched LSU for eight catches, 231 yards, and three scores, as Alabama got revenge for last year's crucial loss, one that derailed the Crimson Tide's national championship hopes. 

Were it not for Derrick Henry, Cook would have cruised to the rushing title this season. As it is, he's been spectacular for a Vikings team that has struggled to find passing-game consistency at times. He was at his very best in a 34-20 win over the Lions on November 8th, running for 206 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries, and catching two passes for 46 yards. That his performance came a week after he ripped up the Packers for 163 yards and 63 yards receiving was even more impressive. 

If Bryson DeChambeau's win at the U.S. Open was a triumph of brains and brawn over the course, Johnson's five-shot Masters victory was a triumph of, well, everything. Johnson proved that when he is playing his best, no one on tour can touch him, shooting a tournament-record 20-under par. Johnson was never seriously challenged after taking full command on Saturday and re-affirmed his place as the top player in the world.

Some had a sense that big things were afoot on November 28th, when Buffalo matched up with a very porous Kent State defense. And while those people might have foreseen a big game for Patterson, it's doubtful they had 409 yards and eight touchdowns, the latter a figure that tied an NCAA single-game record, in their predictions. Patterson laid waste to the Golden Flashes' defense, and had he not been taken out of the game late, would have had a good chance to break the single-game FBS rushing record of 427 yards, set by Oklahoma's Samaje Perine in 2014. 

What is there to say about Hill's performance in a statement win over Tampa Bay? He was spectacular to a degree rarely seen at any level of football. Hill had three touchdown catches in a 27-24 win on November 29th, and finished with 13 catches and 269 yards, to boot. The most unfathomable part of his dominance, though, was how quickly he did his damage. Hill had seven catches for 203 yards and a pair of touchdowns after one quarter of play. It was a performance that left even long-time viewers shaking their heads in disbelief.

Arkansas State freshman Rucker is pictured here against Kansas State when he had just two catches for 39 yards. That's because apparently the eyes of the college football world weren't focused on a December 5th matchup between Rucker's Red Wolves and Louisiana-Monroe. They missed a doozy. Rucker, who entered the game with seven catches for 143 yards and a touchdown, went off in a crazy way. He had nine catches for 310 yards and four touchdowns, demolishing Louisiana-Monroe's secondary all by himself. 

There's a good chance this won't be the only time you see Johnson make an appearance, but his work at the Northern Trust was too preposterous to pass up. Johnson won by 11 shots and in the process reclaimed the top spot in the world rankings with an outlandish effort at the TPC Boston. His final three rounds went 60-64-63, and joined Ernie Els and Jordan Spieth as the only players in tour history to shoot 30-under in a tournament. He also missed tying Els' all-time record of 31-under by a mere shot. As a 13-handicap, this was a hard paragraph to type without wanting to cry.

The NFL season has been strange, and it yielded an exceedingly rare stat line in Week 14. Arizona's Reddick obliterated the Giants all by himself, racking up five sacks and three forced fumbles to propel the Cardinals to a dominant 26-7 win. The last time a player had at least five sacks and three forced fumbles in a game? That would be 2002 when Green Bay's Vonnie Holliday accomplished the feat. They are the only two players this century with that distinction.